Alyssa Strazanac, 17, spent her junior year in the town of Irsina in southern Italy. She is now a senior at Cardinal Gibbons High School, a private school in Raleigh. Here are some excerpts from the blog she kept while traveling.

SEPT. 11, 2005

"... Irsina is such a small town, but I like it because even though its surrounded by farmland, its not completely cut off from civilization. Yesterday, Zio and Zia (aunt and uncle) took Rosa (host sister) and I to see fountains and panoramas around Irsina. I took an insane amount of pictures. On the road to the fontana (fountain) we visited, we ate berries growing from a wall, very tasty, and a couple grapes. At the fountain I drank some water coming out from a spigot, it was so cool."

NOV. 25, 2005

"Happy Thanksgiving. ... On Thursday, I went to the elementary school [where] my Italian teacher teaches to talk about how we celebrate Thanksgiving, and [to] give the kids a taste of cinnamon apples. ... When I got home on Wednesday I made [cinnamon apples] for my family. They tried the cinnamon candies first, but exclaimed "Che schifo!" (how disgusting) and spit it out, basically the same reaction they had to Twizzlers and Craisins. ... I considered Wednesday night my Thanksgiving meal because we had chicken and cinnamon apples."

MAY 28, 2006

"... In Agrigento (town in Sicily), there was the Valley of the Temples, many Greek temples, with most under reconstruction. Piazza Armerina is one of the few remaining Roman villas, and one of the most intact examples, with interesting mosaics on every floor explaining each room's purpose. ... I had the most fun at the Gole di Alcantara; it's a gorge with a shallow river Greek theater in Taormina running through with a waterfall at the end. ... I was the first person to strip off my socks and shoes and walk in, only three other people followed. If I had had permission, I would have continued all the way to the waterfall, getting all my clothes wet for all I care, but the water was high, and they said no."

A dopo!

Alyssa

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